


Convincing Superman

by veritasmahwa



Category: DC Extended Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics), DCeased (DC Comics), Superman - All Media Types, Superman - Fandom
Genre: Complete, DC Comics References, One Shot, Pre-Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Short One Shot, Superman - Freeform, Superman Played by Henry Cavill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24061414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veritasmahwa/pseuds/veritasmahwa
Summary: Lois Lane found superman before he wears his iconic costume
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Convincing Superman

**Author's Note:**

> As per story i post here i like to remind people that english is not my native language. But a bunch of people helped me on this one shot so i can't thank them enough for all the support and being a beta for this story. Considering how many tense i needed to change i'm glad i showed them first.

"What's this map?"

Lois didn't turned to the voice. She knew it was one of her colleague. So she keeps taking note on paper while looking at the map on the monitor in front of her. But she wouldn't ignore this playful voice either. She smiled and respond.

"I found the Blur" she said with the same playful voice. 

Everyone knew this nickname. As a fresh reporter, when she was working in a news about saving animals one of the pictures she receieved has this weird "lines" on it. At one picture there was a dog which about to overrun by a car and next it was on the other side of the road. According to the guy who post the picture, the animal save itself with quick reflexes. But when Lois wanted to make sure and use a bunch software on the pictures she realized a blur which obviously moved the dog. When she asks more, it turns out the dog couldn't make it there by reflexes alone. So the saving animal news turn out something mysteries and earn Lois a small award. The award maybe small but it proves her career starts as best as possible.

"Oh! That's great news honey!" he said while putting the coffee mug on the only empty spot of the desk, which is flooded with all kind of paper. Lois didn't mind him to lean on the computer. she was still writing her notes on the paper but didn't forget to reply with a polite "Thank you"

"So you'll print this now?" he said. She finally turn to him with her head tilted very softly. Her smirk with sharp eyes says "no"

"I still need to confirm what locals says."

"But it's already here?" he asks while looking at the chaos that she calls "notes" and reading a few of them out loud to making his point.

"'A rock stopped from landslide right before hitting a house', 'The school bus miracle, it was able to pull itself from the flood', 'Bunch of kids playing in the collapsing cave find themself outside right before'..."

"It's fundemental of our job." she said while maintaining eye contact. But her colleague see something in those eyes when he avert them from the notes.

"Oh, you want to see it yourself" he said. Only response he got was a playful shrug.

"Well, not like any of us here can stop you and I'm sure Lois Lane wouldn't have any problem to convince the boss for travel expenses. But as you can see it's not a safe journey. The weather and stuff..."

"They also seems like handle it pretty great. Considering school buses still working they should be used to it. I'm sure i'll be fine as long as i'll stay away from water."

***

The rain was beating the road. Her rented car was stuck in a mud and the worse part, it was right next to a river. It was sunny just a 2 hours ago, dammit. But her logic didn't save her from this station. She could stay in the car until the weather would calm down. Except she had hurry since the last incident happened just a few minutes ago.

When she make a call for an interview one of the local there was a horrifying sound coming from the phone. Something crushing there but woman was safe as a man asks "are you okay?"

Of course the possiblity is very low that this was the Blur she's looking for but considering how inhuman The Blur is on speed and strenght wise every second counts for her. So she leaves the car and keep going on foot to that farm she just call. When she had to cross a bridge she was already soak wet despite her yellow raincoat. The river rumble with mud and turn into brown instead of blue. That was the moment it happened.

It was cold and unrelenting when the force hit her. Most people would have thought there was nothing they could do. But Lois Lane wasn’t “most people”. She is determined and you can bet she just pushes her way through even against the impossible. Being a military general’s daughter has nothing to do with this. Although she wouldn’t hesitate to go against a tyrant, like her father.

So what does she do when the bridge is hit by a flood in the mountain? First she was shocked. Then she ground her teeth and used her willpower to overcome this.

Except…It wasn’t enough.

Figures.

Logically there is no way a human can survive a flood. With all the technology in the world we can only find the corpse if luck has anything to do with it.

She rejected that logic. But the overwhelming force was so vivid and blunt it threw her body like a leaf in a hurricane. With all the determination and willpower she possessed, she could only stay conscious. Only for a hand to grab her body in the last minute before her lungs gave up. It was brief enough for her to remember a hand just grabbed her body.

So, when she woke up in some sort of tent, it was confusing. There was no cloth fabric around it. Just a bunch of bole and…ice? How can there be a tent our of oble and ice in this mountain. Also despite there is this ice that hold boles together it wasn't cold in there.

She was confused and trying to make sense of what just happened. The most unnatural detail was her clothes. They were dry. She could still hear the thunder and rain going wild outside of this tent.

Just when she wondered how she had come to be there, a man came in with wooden plate. There was something warm in it. It smelled nice. Not that she needed it immediately. The person who brought the plate was a tall man with a thick beard. He wore a red shirt with dark green pants. His boots were covered with mud and his clothes were so wet they were dripping. None of it however seemed to bother the man with the blue eyes. If he would shave and put on better clothes he would be a very good looking man. Lois realized how tired his eyes are. Without eyebags it looked weird. Or maybe disturbed?

“Eat.” he said. With a blunt voice.

“How did you saved me?”

The man just dropped the wooden plate and turnedabout to leave, only to stop and turn to the woman because of her response. Her question was asked in a very professional tone. Even the most rude person would at least utter an annoying thank you to her…

“Eat and wait until the rain stops.” he said with no sign of sarcasm. No real response either. Not getting an answer, Lois became more bitter. But she quickly found another way to engage with this man.

“I was looking for you, you know. I tracked down all the gossips and…”

“No.”

Lois sat a little more properly by stiffening her back. Whenever she did come across a tough opponent she always does this. She wasn’t a petite woman but men tended to be taller than her. So she learned body language to look at them like this. Despite her height she can give the impression of being on equal ground. Considering cold this man towards her, she needs every knowledge and experience she has, especially since he’s a stubborn one.

“I didn’t even ask anything” she said with a very subtle sarcasm.

The man finally turned to her. "That was a start" she thought. But the way he dropped his shoulders like he already had given up gives a weird sense to her. 

“I heard the phone call. You’re crazy.” He said without getting a reply. Just a silent stare which told him to keep going. But the man wasn’t that naïve. He just turned around to leave again.

“Can you blame me?” she said in order to stop the man. 

It worked.

“I heard all these miracles. No one really believed the mystery because there is always something to defied logic. A falling rock stops just at the right moment…”

“Sloppy ground”

“…Forest fire suddenly vanished...”

“Lucky wind”

She was finally on the right track considering she was getting actual answers. But she wanted to hit the weak point last.

“Flood survivors with dry clothes.”

The man turns to her with a mild shock. He didn’t utter a single word but his eyes said what she wanted. His blue eyes were obviously screaming with “That never happened except in your case right now, Lois Lane.” at least that's what Lois thought. He on the other hand just close his mouth with an intimidating glare. His back was getting beaten by rain and his body posture tells Lois he intend to leave as quickly as possible. But now, it looks more conflicted

It was actually a gamble. No one has a mysterious heat that can dry clothes so far, but assuming that was also his doing was a lucky guess. If she hadn’t got that one right immediately she would lose this round by a mile.

His expression was kind of angry but obviously not enough to attack her physically. Not that Lois would count on that.

“So, Mister…?”

“You pick.”

That little shrug says he’s still a little tense but hiswalls were going down obviously.

“It seems you're used to it”

“What?”

“Using different names.”

“Does it matter?”

“I’ll call you something I can pronounce then…Let’s see, how about "Clark"? Obviously you know English. I can’t even pick up an accent.”

“Sure, Miss Reporter.” 

She followed his blue eyes. He was looking at her name tag as a reporter. It was on her brown blouse under the raincoat. For a moment she was glad she put on some proper pants too. But shoes…ugh. Going into the mountain with only simple sneakers was a mistake. 

“Okay Clark…” She held onto the name she just gave just to make sure it was decided and accepted by both. 

“Do you mind telling me why are you hiding?”

“You prefer me to do this in public?” It wasn’t really a question. It sounded more like how he was against the idea of not hiding. So she just insisted on this while still holding the wooden plate, which smelled like some sort of soup with meat).

“Yes actually. You can help more people that way. You can be a superhero!”

“I’m not interested in being a slave”

“Where is that coming from!?” 

The blood boiled down on her body as she clenched her fists like she was about to go punch Clark. But "No" she said to herself. "that wouldn't do any good." If she let him to get to her like that it would be pointless. She has to maneuver carefully for the next thing she said.

“Superheroes are just a bunch of meta humans who work for humans for free.” he said while looking at her fists. Lois could swear she just saw a smirk on his face. But it was so quickly ocme and go it could be a dream.

“They are not working for them. They are helping them.”

“By what?”

“By saving people.”

“Saving?”

It was the first sarcastic response she got so far. But it’s nothing for a reporter of her level.

“You don’t even have to save someone. Have you tried catching a burglar and see how grateful people are for you to save their valuable?”

“Alright fine. You want me to catch a burglar for…what? Because someone needs money? Because the government can’t feed them, the burglar? Because of people being so harsh to them that they have to steal? And now they are going somewhere even worse, like jail. What’s next? You want me to pay them? You want me to talk to the officers? You want me to overthrow the government next?” his voice didn't change a beat but she could feel the anger behind it. He sound more like he used to it despite the negative emotions.

“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself. There are tones of people out there who steal not because they need it.”

“And who do you trust to separate them? Me? Even if i could, does people deserve this?”

“Alright fine. People are evil, what a surprise! But there are many other ways for you to help people.

“Really?” he said while throwing his hands to the air. Lois on the other hand was quick to respond. 

“You can still just stop traffic accidents?”

“Right, I’ll stop accidents. Catch planes…”

"Oh, he accepted." she thought to herself. "He might be faster than gossip tells him about. Wait, “planes”? He can fly?" Lois tried to suppress her shock to learn more about his powers as the discussion going on.

“Without even eating or sleeping or resting. Always with 100 percent performance. Then I got tired, like before, but no. They demand more. They demand help on construction, mines. Then they asked for me to change their diapers or become a plumber. Only to get mad when I wasn’t there on time when their tap broken.”

“We can pay you if that’s what bothers you.”

“First of all, what’2s the point if I wouldn’t even have time to spend it? More importantly, you’re intentionally missing my point right now.”

“So what? You just let people die because of this?”

“Oh, you want to talk about saving people?”

“Yes. You can see through objects right? Why not look at them for cancer?”

“Right, not that it will make them paranoid that I look at them naked all the time. Besides it’s the same, they demand why I didn’t find it sooner. They demand for me to raise the dead.”

“Aren’t you a pessimist about it? Why don’t you just tried it first and see it for yourself?”

“Why don’t you try?”

“Excuse me?”

“Wwhy are you here?”

His voice changed a bit. Like he was genuinely asking this question, but obviously there was more to it. She knew this strategy, she used it for herself before. Start building from the bottom with a question in order to make them think they knew what you want. But she also knew how to handle it. Just have to drag the sentence as long as possible so they would get out of the rail they are building. 

“I’m doing my job. I’m a reporter and I have to look for a news to let people know because they deserve better. They deserve the truth. They…”

“No.”

“What?”

“I mean, why are YOU here?”

“I don’t get what you’re saying.”

“You keep asking me to help people. But you’re not doing it yourself.”

“I just said I’m looking for the truth.” She said with a little smirk. Using the same method against herself wouldn’t cut it and she just proved this. But the man also smirked, like he has one more thing up his sleeves.

“You came here with all the money you had. Have you helped anyone in this journey? Why don't you spend the money for this journey on science, or orphans? Why do you ride a car when it's harming nature?”

“I help people with my money. I do charity too. And I’m asking you to do the same.“

“You guys need to deserve that first.”

“Right, humanity might be a bunch of ants for you right?”

“Classic reporter. Very good at distorting my words. How about this? You stop being that way and I’ll consider it?”

“I’m just saying you can fix this by taking initiative”

“And there it is. Making me humanities repair-man. Why don’t you stop breaking it in the first place? Why don’t you just stop being bad? Why don’t YOU stop being manipulative?”

“You don’t have to go all out. Just enough to inspire people that there is good in this world.”

“I can’t save them all”

“But you can save the few.”

“How do I choose then? What if someone is murdered in Japan while there is an earthquake in Europe? Should I choose Europe because there are more people in danger there? What makes the Japanese lives less important then? Or vice versa? If I save the Japanese hundreds might die in Europe. What would you choose?”

“You can’t take all those lives on your shoulder. Does a firefighter spend every single waking second either rescuing someone or training to become fitter, pausing only for eating, sleeping, and going to the washroom? No, because all these people have rights too and deserve to have a life outside of their job. And so do you.”

“And how do you convince people that I don’t need to hone my skills for years?”

It suddenly hit the reporter. She may not stutter at all but only now she truly reconize him as a human. Human with emotions and superpowers.

“You’re not here to save everyone." she said with a soft voice. Full of empathy.

"You can decide what problems are likely to take care of themselves, within acceptable parameters. But most importantly you can still take care of yourself. You first and foremost have to keep yourself sane. With that you can lead us to a better future. I really don’t think you’ll be satisfied with just this." she stopped for a bireif moment and then add "You saved me.”

“I tried. It make things worse”

"Did he just said 'I tried'? did he know how much I TRIED to get where i am now?" she thought herself with another furious wave inside her. She started a little shout this time. Almost like she forgot her reporter side. It was just Lois Lane in front of Clark for a moment. Not a reporter. Just another human being.

“Then try harder! You obviously think about this. What you can do, what you can't. But instead you thought you couldn't do it? You should focus on HOW to figure it out, not if you could or not. Just pitying yourself won’t change a thing nor ignoring the problems. You know the problem. Face it. You may not solve it completely. But you can make it better.”

It was the first time Clark became speechless. It was like he saw a light in a dark tunnel. His face shine with a new meaning. The tired eyes didn't vanish though. Nor does his posture, his shoulder was still dropped. But he was obviously considering right now consdering he's patting his beard. A different route, a different way. Giving another chance to people, the humankind. 

Which reminds Lois of the wooden plate in her hands. It’s cold now. But the sweat she feels on her back shows what a tense conversation she just went through. It might be worth it. Or not. But she wants to believe It might lead Earth to have the best and strongest superhero in history. She worked hard to make a news story about it but after this, she felt different. Months of research now felt so small compared with what the world may gain. All he needed was a good push to be more than a man. He needed to be a…superman.

**Author's Note:**

> Anything you want to correct (whatever if it's for story or tags) would be welcome.  
> Thanks for reading it.


End file.
